Wire clothespin



Dec. 28, 1948. sc 2,457,736

WIRE CLOTHESPIN Filed July 18, 1945 Patented Dec. 28, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,457,736 WIRE CLOTHESPIN Bearnard 0. Schmidt, Caroline, Wis.

Application July 18, 1945, Serial No. 605,756

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to wire clothes pins.

An object of this invention is to provide a wire clothes pin which is so constructed that the clothes may be initially engaged with the device and then the clothes and, the pin may be engaged with the line, so that in cold weather the clothes can be quickly hung on the line, and can also be quickly removed from the line' with the clothes pins attached to the clothes.

Another object of this invention is to provide a clothes pin which is formed with at least two gripping elements for clothes so that under certain weather conditions or for certain articles, that portion of the device which grips the line may also be used to grip or clamp clothes to the line, and the remaining portion of the device arrangement of parts, as will be more specifically referred to and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but it is to be understood that changes,

variations, and modifications may be resorted to which fall within the scope of the invention as claimed.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is' a detail front elevation of a clothes pin constructed according to an embodiment of this invention,

Figure 2 is a detail side elevation of the clothes pin, and

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawing, the numerals Ill and II designate generally a pair of resilient jaws which are formed out of a single strand of wire and are normally disposed in downwardly divergent relation. The jaw H is formed as a substantially elongated loop including a pair of parallel arms |3 and M which are of'corrugated configuration and are connected together at their lower ends by an arcuate connecting member l5. The jaw I0 is formed of a single wire strand which extends in divergent relation with respect to the jaw l I and extends lengthwise with respect to the longitudinal center of the jaw II and mid-way between the parallel arms l3 and H of the jaw The arm I4 is connected at its I upper end to the upper end of the jaw II by an 2 upper end of the arm l3 and is then welded, as at l8, to the upper end portion of the jaw Ill. The jaw ID has extending downwardly therefrom an obtusely extending arm l9 which is substantially parallel with the arcuate connecting member I5, the latter being also disposed on an obtuse angle with respect to the length of the arms l3 and H. The arm I9 is then extended downwardly being bent arcuately, as indicated at 20, and is then extended additionally downward as indicated at 2|.

- The extension 2| is corrugated lengthwise thereof and is disposed in substantially parallel relation with respect to the arm Ill. The lower end of the extension 2| is formed with an eye or loop 22 which constitutes a jaw and the jaw 22 is offset from the lower end of the extension 2| by means of an arm 23. The jaw 22 is disposed substantially parallel with but offset from the extension 2|, as .shown more clearly in Figure 2. The jaw 22, which is formed as a loop or eye, has extending upwardly therefrom an obtusely disposed arm 24 which is integral with a corrugated elongated member 25. The elongated extension or arm formed integral-therewith an inwardly extending arm 28. The arm 28 extends in the direction of the inner lower end of the arm 25 and a looped clamping jaw 29 is formed integral with the arm 25. The law or eye 29 is substantially smaller in diameter than the jaw or eye 22. In order to provide a means whereby the two jaws-22 and 29 may be moved toward each other to thereby clamp an article therebetween, I have provided a looped jaw compressing member 30 which engages the corrugations of the arms 2|, 25 and 21.

In the use and operation of this clothes pin under certain conditions the clothes may be clamped or gripped to the line by the upper end of this device by merely moving the jaws I0 and II downwardly over the looped portion of the clothes so as to clamp the clothes to the line. The corrugations of the arms l3 and I4 and of the jaw l0 will hold the jaws l0 and H against upward movement so that the article will .be firmly clamped on the line. During cold weather, if it is desired to hang clothes on an outdoor line, the clothes may be initially clamped between the laws 22 and 29. These jaws are normally biased away from each other to open position and when the articles or article has been inserted between these jaws, they may be moved toward each other by sliding the looped jaw compressing ring 30 downwardly. The corrugations on the arms 2|, 25 and 21 will hold the jaw compressing ring 30 in clamping position. After the articles have been clamped between the two jaws 22 and 29, the upper end of this clothes pin may be hooked over the line by engaging the line between the two jaws l0 and H. nate the handling with bare hands of the wet clothes and the mounting of the wet clothes on the line will be speeded up due to the fact that the clothes pins are initially attached to the clothes and it is only necessary to subsequently hook the upper end of the clothes pin over the line.

This clothes pin may be formed out of a single strand of wire which is bent to the configuration shown and the wire is preferably of inherent resiliency and of sufiicient diameter to retain the formed shape thereof and to firmly clamp the clothes thereto and'to the clothes line.

The exact configuration illustrated is regarded as the optimum, but some of the desirable results inherent in this disclosure may be obtained by various slight modifications including some departure from the exact configuration shown, and it is therefore requested thatthe scope of the invention should be regarded as limited only by the terms of the claim.

What I claim is;

A clothes pin comprising a pair of divergent integral resilient Jaws, one of said jaws being in This procedure will elimi-' the form of an elongated loop and the other jaw extending along the long diameter of said one jaw, an elongated bar integral with and extending downwardly from said other jaw, said bar formed with an upper portion extending at an obtuse angle from said other jaw and formed with an ofiset corrugated lower portion substantially parallel with the upper portion thereof, the

bottom end of said lower portion being looped to form one of a pair of lower divergent jaws, a reverted leg integral with said loop extending upwardly adjacent and parallel to said lower portion, a resilient eye formed integral with the upper end of said reverted leg, a second corrugated bar extending'downwardly from said eye and diverging from said lower portion of said elongated bar and terminating in a second loop to form the other of the pair of lower divergent jaws, and a locking ring engaging over said bars and said reverted leg for clamping said lower jaws on an article.

BEARNARD O. SCHMIDT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Wisecup Apr. 14, 1942 

